Fight To The Finish
by WriterGirl0812
Summary: Set 8 Months After The Home Team. After fighting so many battles, The Expendables have enemies. They thought they were safe, but they were wrong. Two members of The Expendables find themselves fighting for their lives after being forced into an underground fighting competition. The others must try to find them before it's too late.
1. The ROSS Secret

On top of a hotel in downtown New York City various tables are set up. Various trays of food sit on a buffet table and bottles of multiple types of liquor on a second table. The spread is fancier than The Expendables are used to; they opted for Tool's biker bar in New Orleans when they lived there. But tonight they don't mind they are drinking from crystal glasses instead of dirty beer mugs. For The Expendables are reunited with two of their own – Lissa and Billy. Four months ago Billy and Lissa left The Expendables to take on outside jobs – Lissa working with Church on a security program and Billy working with Jasmine on a weapons project. For the first time since Billy and Lissa left Maine the group is together again.

Billy and Lissa sit at a smaller table towards the edge of the roof, offering them a few of the city lights and traffic. The two are holding hands across the table, smiling and laughing as they catch up on the events of the time they spent apart. Billy's work kept him at an undisclosed location in California while Lissa was based in New York. It had been weeks since they were together.

As laughter rings out on the roof so does Billy's cellphone. He glances down at the caller ID, it's a jumble of numbers and letters not a real phone number. Some sort of secure line or a burner phone. "Hello?" He asks after bringing the phone to his ear.

There's a few quick beeps and then a computerized voice says, "Voice Identification Match. Message will play. For security purposes please move away from anyone who can overhear this message." There's another couple of beeps and then the message begins to play. Billy uses the time between beeps to move to the side of the roof, waving Lissa off that it's just some business call.

"Billy, if you're listening it means something bad has happened. I don't know who you are with, where you are or even when you are. I'm recording this video from the hospital in Australia, just after we escaped North Korea. It's important you don't react until I'm done." Lissa's voice comes over the phone. She sounds tired and weak, as to be expected if it really was after she nearly bleed out from the stab wound she sustained in North Korea. "Billy if you're listening to this video it means I'm most likely dead. This video broadcast is tied into a bio chip inside me. If my heart stops for more than thirty seconds, it will broadcast. So I hate that this video may mean I'm saying goodbye for good. I truly hate it and I am so sorry. But there are more important things at stake than just goodbye. The world thinks the ROSS program died with the person Church covered up to me. The story you and the others know is that Church removed the memories of the ROSS program from mine and Chaos's heads. A blank slate so a program that dangerous couldn't be unleashed ever again." There's a pause and he hears Lissa sigh, he knows she's conflicted.

"I couldn't let it be destroyed, Billy. We used it to save our country. What if we needed it again? So I did have Church wipe it from my mind. But only after I secretly copied it and left it on a security hard drive in a place only you would know and in a way only you could access it. For if I'm dead, then it's up to you to protect it and while I hope you never need to use it, it is there. Don't overlook, don't over think. You know right where it is Billy. And if this is my last goodbye, then know my thoughts were always of you until the very end. I love you." The message ends and the call is dropped.

Billy's heart is in his throat and tears in his eyes. The message seems so real, so full of confliction and pain. But this has to be a joke, Lissa is right there alive and well. The bio chip had to of malfunctioned, it's the only possible conclusion. He makes his way back to the table.

"Was it important?" Lissa asks reaching to pick up her water glass.

"Actually it was…" Billy trails off, his eyes got to the glass in Lissa's hand. Not the glass but her hand. The scar on her hand from where Garrett nailed her hand down to a desk is perfectly round, shaped exactly like a nail. It's too perfect. They had to run through the woods with part of the desk crudely tied to her hand and then Tool pried it out. The scar is supposed to have little ridges to it making it irregular. The scar isn't right.

He thought something was off all night, he thought it was just the time apart that made things weird. But now the bio chip message and the scar not looking right he realizes something is wrong.

"It was what?" Lissa asks him with a small smile.

"Who are you?" Billy asks her.

"Billy what? You know who I am." Lissa says with a nervous laugh.

"I know who you look like." Billy says, "Not who you are. Now tell me where is my wife?"

Lissa begins to slowly pull her hand back and looks around nervously, "Billy are you okay? I knew working with the military again was going to be hard for you…"

"Where is my wife?" Billy shouts grabbing ahold of a steak knife on the table, he slams it down into Lissa's retreating hand.

Lissa screams out in pain which attracts the attention of everyone on the roof. Soon all of The Expendables are on their feet making their way to the table. "He's gone crazy!" Lissa screams out to Barney and pulls the knife free from her hand.

"Billy what the hell?" Maggie asks rushing over to Lissa with cloth napkins in hand.

"That's not Lissa, that's not my wife." Billy shouts, getting to his feet. "Her scar is wrong! I just got a dead chip message from her!"

"Billy, listen to me." Lee says, "You're not making any sense." He begins to close in on Billy. "You need to calm down. You're being irrational."

Billy pulls his gun free from his hip holster and raises it, clicking the safety off. "That's not Lissa."

"Billy." Barney begins putting his hands up in the air, "You need to listen to me. This isn't you. Look, it's hard out there, hard going out and facing demons. But we're here, you're not alone. We'll fight this."

"Guys." Maggie says.

"I'm not crazy Barney! Damn it, look at her, she's not Lissa." Billy demands.

"Guys!" Maggie shouts louder this time.

Everyone turns to Maggie and Lissa. Instead of Maggie helping Lissa with her hand wound they find Lissa and Maggie standing close to the edge of the room. Lissa has her good hand wrapped around Maggie's throat and her had hand holding a gun to her head.

"What the hell is going on here?" Gunnar asks.

"I'm getting off this roof or she gets it." Lissa says jerking the gun closer to Maggie's head.

With that every Expendable on the roof raises a gun on Lissa.

"Sorry love, that's not happening." Lee says, "Let her go."

Lissa looks to Barney locking eyes with him, "There's no other way." She says and then shoves Maggie at Cesar who is standing the closest to them. She climbs up onto the ledge and before any of them can react she jumps to her death.


	2. Trouble Staying Dead

**Authors Note: The original plan was not to release this chapter to later this week/early next week. But I received a rather warm welcome back and some very kind words from Mopargirl1 and well here you go!**

"Come on Liss." Barney Ross pleads as he thumps his hand on her chest just above her heart. If he presses any harder he's risking breaking at least one of her ribs. Not something they need right now, but it is better than dead. "Come on."

All at once the life comes back to her. Her eyes jolt open and her lungs gasp out for oxygen. Barney rolls her onto her side as she takes in gasping breathes like a fish out of water. "Guards?" She gasps out.

"They didn't come." Barney confirms to her. After what they estimated to be a week, they realized that the holding cells are the only place not watched by cameras or listened in on by planted microphones. It was the only place they could talk freely.

"Good." Lissa says resting her head back on the floor breathing deeply. "Was it long enough?" She asks, hope in her tone. The only way the bio chip would transmit the message to Billy was if her heart stopped for over twenty seconds. She pulls at the inch thick flexible metal collar just below her wind pipe, it stopped bothering her days ago but now it feels like it is putting pressure on her throat. After having Barney strangle her, she wants nothing more than to breathe freely.

"Nearly took me a minute to bring you back. One minute, twenty one seconds you were dead." Barney says as he leans back in the cell. He rests his head in his hands. "Took far less than that to make me wondering if I'd be able to bring you back."

"Barney…Dad…you had to do it." Lissa tells him shakily pushing herself into a sitting position. She puts a bruised, bloody and dirt covered hand on Barney's knee. "Killing me was the only way to get word out to Billy. With Fake Lissa and Fake Barney around them, they were all at risk. Now Billy knows." Lissa tells him. She didn't like the idea of having to trigger the dead chip. But after all their time here and they were no closer to finding a way out of here. Every day they risked making it out alive. "Besides, being dead has never really stuck with me."

A small grin crosses Barney's face. That's the thing about him and his daughter, neither of them could seem to die no matter how hard their enemies tried. The two share the grin with each other and for a moment all feels normal. Like they are back in Maine having one of the near weekly barbeques sipping beers, roasting hot dogs over a fire on sticks and laughing over old missions. The same type of flexible metal collar is ringed around his neck as Lissa's.

But the reality comes back to them quickly. The lights in the holding cell area are turned up to a near blinding hue. Their cell is sound proof to the outside, only a door panel of bullet proof glass allows them a view to the hallway outside. They don't know who their neighbors are, they can't even talk to them.

Three guards with generic white face masks on stop in front of their cell. The loud buzz of a locked door rings out in the cell and the panel door slides into the wall.

"Alyssa Hollis." One of the guards says looking to her.

"No." Barney tells him and at that the other two guards pull out collapsible batons from the utility belts around their waists. The batons are snapped into full length and a crackle of electricity runs through them.

"Don't." Lissa says looking to Barney, "Save your strength. We need it" She tells him as she climbs up to her feet. If the guards were coming for her it meant she and Barney would be going into the Battle Ground again soon. It had been the pattern since she woke up here after being taken in New York while leaving the CIA office she was working out of. Leave the cell, face some sort of interrogation, be cleaned up, go into the Battle Ground, rest and repeat. It may not have been a week since they were taken, it could have been longer or it could have been shorter. Their lives were only marked by the trips into the Battle Ground so far it had been six.

The guard who opened the door grabs ahold of Lissa's arm and presses a button on a key panel to shut the door.

Lissa looks back at Barney the whole time she's pulled away from the cell. "I'll find you! I promise I'll find you inside!" With the door shut she knows Barney won't hear her and she doesn't bother saying anymore. Instead she focuses on looking into the cells they past, trying to see if any of the other members of The Expendables are here. She knows Billy isn't, after studying every player and every kill in the Battle Ground she knows he's not here. That's the only real comfort she has.

Her eyes are heavy from exhaustion and the stress. Since the first time she entered the Battle Ground she learned she can't trust just her eyes. It's how she nearly ended up smashing a rock into Barney's head. If it wasn't' for the way he flexed his upper arm muscles before throwing a punch she would have killed him. The Battle Ground kept things interesting by using the collars around their necks to project different faces on them. The suits they wore into the Battle Ground could also alter the way viewers saw them. Barney's tall and muscular frame could be turned to tall and lanky with just a few adjustments to the program that ran the collars and the suits. It makes finding allies and fighting off foes inside the grounds a lot harder.

The guards stop outside of a small room and push her inside, the door shuts behind her. The room only has a single table with a chair on either side. Sitting in one of the chairs is a person who now makes Lissa's blood run hotter.

"So tell me what will it be today? You traded me information so you and your daddy could be roomed together. Perhaps you'll trade for weapons to have inside the Battle Grounds? Or perhaps you'll trade for a little bit of hope." The person asks and he drops Lissa's compass necklace onto the table.

"Fuck you Derek." Lissa says looking to the foster brother she idolized, the same one who showed her how to hack and the very same one she thought Sedov and Garrett killed years ago for helping her escape from Sedov's clutches. "That's what I have for you today."

Authors Note: For those who don't remember, the character of Derek Hollis was introduced in the first part of Lissa's story "What We Become" and is mentioned in "The Hack" (the one shot set pre-What We Become). When little Alyssa Howard become an orphan, she was fostered into the Hollis family. There Derek taught her everything he knew about hacking and at age 16 she hacked her way out of the foster care system becoming Alyssa Hollis in honor of Derek. In What We Become he's assumed dead for helping Lissa escape from Garret and Sedov's clutches.


	3. The Hollis Double

"Now, now, Lissa is that any way to treat your brother?" Derek asks, "Sit." He orders this time and gestures towards the chair.

"I'll pass, I'm done here." Lissa says and then moves towards the door she just came in.

"I said sit!" Derek shouts and presses a button on a controller in his hand. It causes the collar around Lissa's neck to let out a pulse of electric energy.

Lissa gasps out and drops to her knees. When the pulse stops she looks up at Derek with full hate in her eyes, "I regret mourning you." She tells him. She stumbles up to her feet and sits in the chair. "What do you want Derek? You know I'm on a pretty tight schedule, have to go Hunger Games it out soon."

Derek cracks a grin, "Always so good with deflecting how you really feel. The jokes, always a distraction with you. I've missed that." Derek tells her, "It doesn't have to be this way Lissa. The Battle Ground Matches were only meant to be a way for my employer to get money. After the success of UFC fights and well even The Hunger Games, we saw the potential in online pay-to-watch fights. Now we're making millions. People want to see violence, they want to see people die." Derek explains. "You give me the ROSS Program and we'll no longer need The Battle Ground Matches. We'll get our money from that."

"When I told you two days ago, the CIA wiped it from my mind I wasn't lying Derek." Lissa tells him, "The program is gone. I'm the only one who knew it and now it's gone. It was too dangerous to keep around." She had traded this information two days ago in order to get roomed with Barney. At the very least it got her and Barney closer so they could plot their escape at the very most it got Derek to end this wild goose chase.

"See that's where I think you're lying." Derek says. "Lying is something we're both very, very, very, very good at sister. I kept up the lie that I was dead. My employer saw my potential and rescued me from Sedov and Garrett. All we had to do was get an unclaimed corpse from the morgue and leave that in my place. I keep up the appearance of being dead until I needed to reveal myself. And now sister it's time for you to reveal what really happened to the ROSS program."

There's a knock on the door and one of the guards enter. "Sir, it's important."

"Not now." Derek says keeping his eyes locked with Lissa's.

"Sir, it's important." The guard repeats.

"It can wait." Derek tells him keeping his eyes on Lissa the whole time.

Lissa doesn't blink, she keeps staring back at him. Out of the corner of her eye she can see her compass necklace and she wants nothing more than to reach out for it. It doesn't feel right that it's not hanging around her neck. But she doesn't do it, she won't show Derek weakness. Instead she holds onto the hope the necklace brings, as long as the bio chip worked fine, Billy knows the double they put in her place using the collar and battle suits to mimic her appearance isn't the real Lissa. They have a chance at being rescued. "Might want to take that Derek. It could be the Evil Super Villains Association wanting to revoke your license for poor craftsmanship." She sneers at him.

"Sir, it's about the Hollis Double." The guard says and then his eyes go wide realizing the Hollis he is speaking of is her.

"What is it?" Derek asks breaking eye contact with the guard, "Do tell me, did the Timmons Boy whisk her away on a sunset cruise around the harbor? Ask her to renew their wedding vows? Do tell me."

"Sir, the Hollis Double is dead. Reports are still coming in but she either was thrown from the roof of the hotel by Timmons or she jumped. We're still gathering intel. But they know sir, they know it's not the real Alyssa Hollis." The guard says.

And that causes Lissa to burst into laughter. "You may just want to shred that Super Villian License after all dear brother." She says looking to Derek with a wide grin on her face, "Or perhaps your time is better spent writing the eulogy for your funeral. For now my husband and my team know. And now nothing will stop them from shoot, fighting, stabbing, blowing up, stealing, full on crazy shenanigans to get Barney and I back. We stopped the North Korean invasion, your bitch ass is nothing."

"How did you do it?" Derek demands to know looking to her. "Your double was a pure match, a dead ringer-"

"Yep, exactly dead." Lissa says and then laughs again. Part of it is laughter of relief and hope, it means Billy and the others are on the way. The other half? Well that's her wanting to get under Derek's skin.

Derek looks to the guard, "And the status on the Ross double?"

"He's still in play." The guard answers.

"Then I'm still winning." Derek tells Lissa with a smirk. He looks over to the guard. "Bring her to medical and get her ready for the fight."

Lissa's left with her arms handcuffed on either side of a standard hospital bed in the medical lab. She hadn't been here yet. She was lucky not have sustained any serious injuries. Only cuts and scrapes she was tossed Band-Aids and antibiotic cream for. She's a little on edge being in the medical lab, not liking being away from Barney. Clearly Derek sent her here on purpose.

An average height woman with her auburn hair pulled up in a bun enters the medical and pulls on a lab coat. "Mrs. Hollis I presume." She says as she grabs a file from near the bed. Lissa had seen it enough to know it's a file on her.

"Nothing is broken or infected. We can skip all this." Lissa tells her.

"I'm going to have to check that myself." The woman says and cleans her hands with anti-bacterial soap and then moves to Lissa. She casts a glance at the door and then moves in to check Lissa's vitals, "Listen we don't have long. I was lucky enough they believed you need some vitamin injections. "My name is Lincoln Price. My brother Damon is one of the people forced into the Battle Ground. I know he's not dead, he's still in there active. I need you to find him, I need you to tell him I'm here." Lincoln speaks in a hushed tone, keeping close to Lissa as she readies a few syringes.

"How did you?" Lissa begins.

"Get here?" Lincoln asks, "A whole lot of research and a whole lot of luck. I made myself valuable to them and they came knocking. Getting out of here, I have a plan for it. I need my brother for. He's from the Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit. He gets injured, they send him to me in medical. I get him what he needs to build bombs. We blow this place up and help comes. I've got a family friend waiting for reports of big explosions. I need you to get my brother to me."

Lissa looks the woman over, their about the same age. Lissa gives her credit for sneaking her way in here to help her brother. There's desperation in Lincoln's eyes that backs up her story. She's a girl desperate to save her brother. "I need to know something to tell him. So he'll know I'm a good guy. They change how we look in there." Lissa says and then eyes the syringes. "What are those?"

"Antibiotics and a few different vitamin cocktails. Enough to help give you a boost." Lincoln explains as she begins the first injection, "While they can change appearances they can't change how you walk. Damon lost a leg in Iraq. He has a prosthetic, he walks with a slight limp from it. Tell him you're his friend Mr. Jiggles. It was our name for the imaginary cat we had growing up since we weren't allowed to have real pets. He'll know he can trust you."


	4. Lacey's Cooking

The flight on Barney's plane back to Maine was tension filled. They had quickly vanished from the hotel roof, all going their separate ways. Making it hard for the police to get descriptions on them let alone track them down. They met up at an airfield outside the city and Maggie joined them, after using one of her aliases to get the Fake Lissa's body.

While everyone spent the flight talking about how this could have happened and what the next steps were, Billy spent it feeling sick to his stomach. His eyes never left the black body bag secured at the rear of the plane. While his mind knew the body inside wasn't Lissa's, regardless of how much it looked like her, his heart still ached. How long had this double been in her place? He tried to think of their conversations while they were apart, was anything off? He alternates through feelings of anger (for not knowing sooner it wasn't her), to hope (that she's alive) to dread (that she isn't alive). The emotional roller coaster doesn't stop even after they've touched down in Maine.

Tool comes out of garage with Maggie in tow. The two had been in there for the past thirty minutes looking over the managed body belonging to fake Lissa. In Tool's hands in a bent and bloody piece of flexible metal, it almost reminds Billy of a dog collar. "This is how they made her look like Lissa." He tells them, "It's a hologram projector type thing. She has a whole suit on too. They can be programed to make the wearer look like anyone."

"Any way to tell how long it's been active?" Lee asks.

"Or where it came from?" Barney asks.

"No and no." Tool tells them, "The technology is pretty advanced, even Maggie didn't see anything like it when she was with the CIA. I'll put some calls out." He tells them.

"But there's a more pressing issue to deal with. This things can make anyone look like anyone. They got Lissa, we need to know if they got anyone else." Maggie says.

"I don't like the sounds of this one." Toll says as he leans against a parked car in the driveway. "What's it going to be lie detector? Russian roulette? Waterboarding?"

"Oh hell no, I'm not being water boarded again." Caesar protests, "Pick another damn way."

"He's good." Lee and Yin say at the same time while looking to Caesar.

"The how is something we're going to work on. In the meantime, everyone stay close." Maggie tells the group and heads back towards the garage. Tool makes his way to his motorcycle with the promise of calling if he has any leads.

Left to their own devices, The Expendables very quickly have guns out on each other asking questions only the rightful person would know. Some are deemed safe, others are close to safe but mess up not remembering which third world country a certain fight happened in and other make their way away from the group.

Barney finds himself walking into the kitchen of Lissa and Billy's house in search of a beer. In light of everything he figures he deserves one. He quickly realizes he's not alone when he discovers the kitchen light on and Lacey standing at the open fridge. "Any beers?" He asks her.

"They still trying to shoot themselves out there?" Lacey asks him as she pulls a bottle of beer out and hands it to him.

"Hopefully Maggie figures out a better way soon." Barney tells Lacey and grabs a seat at the kitchen table. It's weird being in Lissa's house without her or Billy around.

"I figure I might was well cook something up. You hungry?" Lacey asks as she grabs a fry pan from a nearby cabinet.

"Starving." Barney answers.

Lacey looks around a cabinet in search of nonstick spray, "I think they keep it over here…" She trails off and heads for a pantry closet behind Barney. But she doesn't open the pantry door instead she swings the fry pan back with both hands and hits Barney across the back of the head. He loses consciousness and slumps forward on the table. "Barney Ross would never eat a thing I cook." Lacey tells him and heads for the window by the sink. She throws it open. "Hey guys, I just knocked Fake Barney out. You're going to want to come deal with that."

"I don't like that it looks like him, sounds like him." Maggie says as they all stand in the basement of Lissa and Billy's house. In the center of their circle is a tied up Fake Barney Ross. He's still unconscious from Lacey's blow, something she has a smirk on her face about.

"Welcome to my club." Billy tells her, "I can do it if you want."

"No, I'll do it." Maggie says and then looks to Lee, "If you please."

Lee grabs a bucket of ice water from his feet, icy cold water sloshes over the top. He throws the bucket at Fake Barney, who instantly jerks awake.

"What the hell?" Barney asks.

"Save it." Maggie demands and then charges the Taser to life. She touches it to Barney's upper leg, as he spasms in pain there's a flicker. Almost like a flashlight running on low battery, but instead of seeing darkness they see a five foot eight man with sandy blonde hair and black eyes. Maggie pulls the Taser back, "It works. Anyone wearing the collars can have them affected by electric shocks." She tells the group.

"Time to Taser up gentlemen." Yin says with a not too pleased look on his face.


	5. The Battle Grounds

As she's dragged to one of the loading points, Lissa catches a glimpse of herself on the metal walls. She's wearing the face and body build of the woman that Lissa can only guess is a swimmer or a runner. She's tall and lean. She's about Lissa's height with blonde hair cut into a pixie cut. Today the outfit is a pair of blue overalls and a white t-shirt. The combination doesn't look farmer like though. It's dirty and beaten up like a construction worker and the work boots on her feet back the thought up. So far the battle fields, which are computer generated, have been a fisherman's boat, a Roman gladiator arena, a junkyard and an abandoned building. Now it looks like they'll be fighting it out on a construction site.

The muscles in her legs burn with anticipation of what's to come. She knows she needs to get to the tallest landmark she can find or in cases like this the highest point she can get to, Barney will be waiting for her there. Once she meets up with him, she'll tell him about Lincoln's brother and they'll go looking for him. It's their best chance at getting out of here if Billy and the others can't find them.

"Time to go Hollis." One of the guards says and enters a code into a pin pad. The metal door in front of them opens and Lissa finds herself looking at a large construction site. Something that's meant to be a strip mall, large office building or maybe even a small school if it was ever really built. Most structures are half built and there are mobile offices all around. She doesn't like this, too many places to hide and being on a construction site means too many weapons. "Go." The guard demands and it's all she needs to take off running.

Lissa sizes up her surroundings, looking for the highest point in the building. She keeps her back towards a pile of lumber, to prevent anyone from sneaking up on her. She spots the tallest building, a partially built one a few yards away. She takes off running, letting her eyes dart all around her not only looking for other contestants but also for weapons. With the lack of players out in the open, she figures it's a safe assumption that she's one of the last to enter The Battle Grounds. The first time they were all let loose at once which created a massive bloody battle. Now with less players, they are phased into the grounds one by one. Hopefully Barney got in early and is waiting for her.

The fake sunlight shines brighter as she gets to the door of the building, having to shield her eyes as she finds the door knob. The interior of the building is half finished and somewhat blocks the blinding fake sunlight, but she still wishes she had sunglasses.

She carefully creeps into the main room of the building in search of a staircase. It's when she sees a person holding a wooden push broom heading towards a bright spot in the building. She's about to move on when she notices how the broom shakes in his hands. Not nervous shakes, but the shake of someone who has consumed too much caffeine and Adderall in their lifetime. The collar projects a rail thin Korean teen but she thinks it's someone else. She's about to open her mouth to test her theory when she notices a large muscular man with long brown hair tied in a ponytail creeping up behind the Korea teen with a bloody fire axe in hand.

If the fake Korean teen is who she thinks it is, she needs to act quick. A glance around her immediately area only reveals a nail gun on a nearby table as weapon. The scar on her hand aches at the memory of Garret nailing her hand down, but she knows what she has to do. The work boots she's protected as wearing should make loud clomps as she runs, but the basic running shoes she's really wearing make almost no noise. She grabs the nail gun as she sprints and takes off after the ponytail man.

Ponytail clearly isn't expecting her for she's able to run at him and tackle him football player style. The fire axe skids away from them and Ponytail begins to throw punches in her direction. Lissa's left with no choice but to rapid fire the nail gun at his face. When he punches stop and low moans leave his lips she climbs off him. "Please don't tell me you know who Mr. Jiggles is." She pleads with him. In the moment of fear over protecting an alley she forgot about her mission to find Damon Price.

There's no flash of recognition in Ponytail's undamaged eye and she feels down his leg. There's definitely no prosthetic there. Lucky is on her side, Ponytail isn't Damon.

"I don't know who you are, but I will kill you." The Korean teen says as he holds the discarded fire axe.

"Quit the shit Chaos, you wouldn't know how to use that if you tried." Lissa says taking a gamble as she climbs to her feet. Ponytail starts to sit up, but Lissa's quick to throw a kick to his face, knocking him out cold.

There's a flash of hope in the Korean teen's eyes, "Lissa?" He asks.

"In the….well real flesh but digital not flesh." Lissa tells him.

Chaos drops the axe and throws his arms around her, "Jesus Christ I am so happy to see you."

"Come on, we need to meet up with Barney." Lissa says to him and then brings her lips close to his ear, "I have a way out of here."

"But I do too." Chaos says and then pulls back from her. He picks up the push broom he was holding when she first saw him, "Notice that it's so bright in here? I've had enough time to scout all of the battlefields and I've noticed it's bright in the perimeter. The main part of the battlefield is digitally protected. But the structures, weapons, plants, all that are real. It's bright at the perimeter because the projection is ending."

Lissa catches onto his train of thought, "So you want to tap into the electricity of the perimeter projection? Will it disrupt the collars? Long enough for facial recog?"

"I was about to test it." Chaos says.

There's a loud yell in the distance and it makes Lissa's muscles go tight again. "Take the broom, we need to get to Barney. Then it's time to try it out." She grabs ahold of Chaos's wrist and starts heading for the staircase.

"Barney's here?" Chaos asks, "Who else?"

"I think it's only us. I thought it was just me and Barney till I saw you." Lissa confesses. She doesn't like that Chaos is here. It only confirms that Derek and his employers truly want the ROSS Program. Chaos was the only other person to know it, until Church took it out of his head too.


	6. 75 Percent Match

"Lissa?" Barney says clearly tensing up. He's waiting for her on the highest finished floor in the building. Today he's a Hispanic man with buzz cut, taller than Barney normally and less muscular.

"Green bag." Lissa says to Barney. Every time they met in the Battle Field they asked each other a question no imposter would know.

"For torture." Barney answers. The bag he kept his tools for 'creative interrogating' was green. "Sunglasses?"

"The first gift I gave Billy." Lissa answers.

"Um New Orleans!" Chaos says, Lissa's suddenly aware that Chaos is there. When Barney looks at him blankly, Chaos shrugs, "I thought we were doing some sort of code word thing. New Orleans is where I met Lissa and Billy…."

"Chaos?" Barney asks looking to Lissa. She can see that Barney's taken note of Chaos's shaky movements.

"Yep." Lissa answers, "And we both have a plan to get out of here."

"So you're telling me, one of us is going to poke that broom into the light, the force field or whatever and it should fry out the collar we're wearing for a few seconds?" Barney asks eyeing the broom Chaos is holding.

"Hopefully long enough for facial recognition. I'm sure your friends in suits are helping out trying to find you guy." Chaos says, "CIA, for their lack of being bad at everything else, has good facial recog programs."

"They think I'm dead." Lissa reminds Chaos, "And last I knew fake Barney is still in play and you've been here longer than us and none of us know you're gone. They might not be looking." She's starting to think they are wasting time on Chaos plan and that they should find their time finding Damon. It's a safer bet.

Barney shakes his head, "If you think for a second Billy will stop looking you're wrong. Dead chip message or not that boy will keep on looking for you even if it only means bringing bones home." Barney informs her, "We do this then we find Damon."

"Then I'm going to have to be the one to do it." Lissa says and puts a hand on the broom.

"I didn't mean that." Barney protests, "We don't know what this will do. It could kill you."

"I have a habit of not staying dead." Lissa reminds him and then pulls the broom from Chaos's hands. "You better be right about this. If I get all marshmallow toasty for nothing, we're going to have issues." She warns him. Lissa takes in a breath and then jams the broom into the light. The wood holds in most of the electricity but she can feel it rapidly warming in her hands. A light shock runs through her body and then she sees it happens. The hands of the woman she's projected as wearing flicker away to her own. It's almost like she's a ghost, flickering in and out of existence. She knows there are cameras all over the place and she looks all around the room, hoping to get her face on every angle.

Lissa feels her heart seize up for a moment and her lungs gasp out for breath. Barney's strong arms yank her away from the wall and the second the broom leaves the lighted area she begins to feel normal. She drops the broom, feeling a sting in her hands. She can only hope she held on long enough and the cameras caught a clear look at her face.

"Guys." Chaos says, he had moved to stand guard at the stairs. He points out of an open wall where a small drone helicopter is heading their way. Beyond it they can see others. All of them are carrying two round black canisters. As they approach what Lissa can only assume is their target, the canisters drop and a heavy white smoke explodes from them.

Barney sniffs at the air, "Knock out gas." He tells them, "Get ready for one hell of a headache.

"My plan really worked." Chaos tells them with a grin as a drone flies into the room and drops its canisters, "Take that assholes!" He shouts looking to the nearest camera, "Nobody shuts down Chaos!" He then drops to the ground as the knock out gas takes effect.

"Fuck you Derek." Lissa says with a grin and grabs onto Barney's hand as the room begins to spin. Due to his size, Barney goes down last and only after he's eased Lissa to the ground. His eyes grow heavy as he lays next to his daughter. Then it all goes black.

Billy is in the state between awake and asleep when he hears the computer down the hall ding. In his state he thinks it's the alarm clock at first, but then he realizes the noise is wrong. It's not an alarm clock, it's an alert. That's all it takes to jerk him awake and he goes running down the hall to Lissa's computer lab. There the large monitor has a blurry image of Lissa in some sort of construction site. She's holding onto the handle of a broom. Printed on the screen is "75% MATCH ALYSSA HOLLIS". It could have been only 10%, hell even 1% that's all the proof he'd need to have renewed sense of hope. "Maggie!" He shouts. Members of The Expendables had been rotating spending time in his and Lissa's house to keep an eye on him. Afraid he'd do something irrational if left to his own devices, "Whoever, we've got a match!"


	7. The Price To Pay

"It's called Battle Grounds." Billy says to the group. Their standing in barn at Barney's house, though calling it a barn is a bit of an understatement. On the outside it looks like a large run down barn but on the inside it's a lot more high-tech. Half the barn is dedicated to housing their plane, while the other half has various weapons, a few vehicles of various sorts and a small meeting area. He projects the website for Battle Grounds onto a clear barn wall. "It's an extremely exclusive pay to watch streaming fight video website. It's invite only, unless you have a hacker friend like Kim." Billy's thankful with Lissa gone and Chaos unreachable that their friend Kim stepped in to fill the void. "To watch a single fight it's a grand, all access, more fights, and the ability to watch old fights all come at a cost. It would appear they are using the collars we found on fake Lissa and Barney to manipulate what the players look like so no one can figure out their original identities. Though it appears, Lissa, the man we are assuming is Barney and the unidentified friendly they are with found a way around it long enough for us to get a facial recog match."

"Why aren't the suits all over this?" Toll asks, "It's bound to have been on their radar since it's moving that much cash."

"I talked with Church." Maggie explains, "They've only heard chatter and nothing concrete until now. He's assembling a small trusted team to start digging but we're better off on our own."

"We've watched enough to the footage to know the deaths in Battle Grounds are very real. The landscapes get harder and smaller each fight. Numbers are decreasing and it's getting down to just the strongest fighters remaining. There's a fight about every two days and they are picking up pace now. It's clear their tired, run down and possibly in need of medical attention. We need to get to them before it's too late." Billy tells the group, though it's clear he doesn't need to, their all thinking worst case scenarios.

Gunnar gets up from his chair and gives the projection screen one last look. "So what do you need us to do?"

"Every contact you have talk to them, every favor you're owed, cash it in." Billy tells them, "We stopped the North Koreans, we need to stop this."

Everyone expect for Toll, Maggie and Billy leave the barn discussing places to go, supplies needed and people to see.

"You didn't mention what we're going to do about our little friend." Toll says.

"I'm going to handle it." Billy tells Toll and grabs a small black bag from on top a nearby table. "I'm going to do it now."

Fifteen minutes later Billy comes out of the basement they are holding fake Barney in. There's anger written all over his face as he comes up the stairs, slamming the door shut. He throws the bag against a kitchen cabinet, letting out a yell of frustration. When that's not enough he started kicking at the nearest wall.

"Billy." Maggie says trying to break the rage, "The man down there is desperate, and he'll say anything. Whatever he told you, it might not be true." Concern laces her tone, she's worried Fake Barney told Billy that Lissa is as good as dead.

"He didn't say anything." Billy says and rests his forehead against the wall, stopping kicking. "I couldn't do it. I had the pliers in my hands and every good damn reason to use them and I couldn't. Her life is on the line. Barney's life is on the line and I couldn't do it. I couldn't bring myself to do it and I hate myself for it."

Before Maggie can offer a comforting word or some piece of advice, Toll comes out from the other room. "You're not that kind of person Billy and it's not something you should hate yourself for. It's something you should be proud of." He crosses the room grabbing the black bag Billy threw moments ago.

"I tried everything I could to get him to talk." Maggie tells Toll and Billy, "He wouldn't budge. Either he knows something or he's too scared to talk."

"Sometimes love you need more than a woman's touch." Toll tells her and pulls a few different items from the tool chest, "I've seen Barney do this enough to do know what to do. I'll get him talking." He then heads for the basement door.

Billy reaches a hand out blocking Toll's way, "Toll I can't ask you to do this." Billy says and then lets out a loud sigh. He rubs the back of his neck, the stress is clear on his face, "I can't ask you to do something I wouldn't do….couldn't do…. I want them back, but…"

"I didn't hear you ask me, I volunteered." Toll tells him, "You're a good man Billy, sometimes you have to be a bad one to get things done. I'm willing to pay that price." He then heads down into the basement without another word.

"He's right you know." Maggie says looking to Billy whose face as gone unreadable. She knows it must be ripping Billy apart inside to know he couldn't do what was needed of him. But if she's learned one thing from Billy and Lissa it's that they are different that the others, including Maggie herself. They have a line they won't cross, a moral compass that won't fail. The two of them are the very best of The Expendables, but this line of work calls to the worst.


	8. The Police Station

Lissa wakes up with her head foggy and her lungs burning. She tries to pull her knees to her chest in a futile attempt to relieve the pain but they are held down. She opens her eyes, blinking several times to stop the spinning and sees that she's in the medical lab, strapped down to a gurney sitting up. There are bands around her ankles, above her knees, and across her upper chest, along with holding her hands down.

"She's coming to." A male nurse says and shines a flash light in her eyes, checking her pupils. The bright light causes Lissa to pull away and let out a groan.

"About time." Derek says and then comes into view, "Well little sister you certainly have made a mess of things. Nearly got yourself killed and nearly blew our operation. I should have known you'd do something so….reckless and stupid." He says and then sits on the edge of the bed, "My bosses have realized you're uncooperative. The original plan was to wear you down and get you to give us the ROSS program, what is what you call it right? But we see that other measures are necessary." He then gestures to the nurse.

Lissa begins to look around the room for Lincoln, hoping somehow her new friend could give her a hint of what is to come but she doesn't see Lincoln in the room. Just a few guards, the nurse and Derek. The nurse steps forward and injects a syringe of a light green liquid into her arm.

Derek pulls a smartphone from his suit coat pocket and tapes a few things into the screen, "Pink Fire Truck, Green Sky, Brown Sun." Derek says to her, reading from the phone. "Pink Fire Truck, Green Sky, Brown Sun." He repeats and leans forward, grabbing ahold of her jaw. "Repeat it. Pink Fire Truck, Green Sky, Brown Sun."

"Fuck you." Lissa tells him. She doesn't know what the phrase is or means, but if Derek wants her to say it, she won't.

"Bring him out." Derek orders.

From behind a closed off area, a bloody and bruise Barney is dragged out by two guards. They drop him on the floor just in view her gurney and step back with their guns raised.

Lissa watches as Barney looks up from the floor, slowly and painfully. It's clear he's tired and hurting. The sight of Barney so beaten makes her breath catch in her chest.

"Don't Lissa." Barney wheezes out. "Don't give the son of a bitch what he wants."

"You going to listen to the dear old Dad who was never there for you Lissa? Or are you going to listen to me?" Derek asks her, "I've done so much more for you than you know." He then gestures to a nearby guard.

The guard nods and hits a button on a small box, which causes Barney's collar to shock him. The guard keeps his finger on the control even as Barney cries out and his arms give out from under him, causing him to hit the floor.

"Stop it!" Lissa screams. She can deal with her own torture, but she can't stand by and watch someone she loves go through it. "Pink Fire Truck, Green Sky, Brown Sun." She shouts out. There's only a couple of seconds in between the guard releasing the shocker button for Barney and pain shooting through Lissa's head. She pulls at her arm restraints as she cries out in pain, desperate to hold her head in her hands.

"Don't fight it." Derek coaches her, "It'll only make it hurt longer." He says. "Now think Lissa, think back to the police station when the North Koreans had you. Think about the noise."

Even through the pain, she finds herself listening to Derek's words. She finds herself thinking back to being in the interrogation room in the police station when the North Koreans had her. To the non-stop noise that played keeping her from sleeping. Her desperation, fear and the disappearing hope with each hour she was kept inside. Now she begins to hear words over the noise. Pink Fire Truck, Green Sky, Brown Sun. It repeats over and over and over. As the words replay in her mind, the pain begins to ease.

"You got into my head." Lissa gasps out looking to Derek.

"I convinced my employers you were worth saving from the North Koreans. They didn't want to go in guns a blazing with some half assed plans like, you…The Expendables do." He says with disgust, looking over to Barney who's panting on the floor still recovering from the extended shock. "So we had to use a discrete method. We also needed a way to get you to use the program. To prove that it works, that you could do it. So I got into your little head and made sure you and Billy reunited." Derek tells her with a proud grin.

Lissa feels her head begin to sag as more of the pain disappears. However replacing the pain is a bit of a cloudy feeling, like when you take cold medicine. From the times Church has been in her head, she knows the phrase she repeated is some sort of protocol put into place for her mind.

"Just repeat it one more time Liss and the pain will stop." Derek promises her.

Even though she doesn't want to, she feels her mouth moving. "Pink Fire Truck, Green Sky, Brown Sun." Lissa repeats. And just like that she feels coldness rush through her. She's actived the protocol. The pain has stopped but she feels disconnected from her own body. Lissa takes in a deep breath and closes her eyes. After having other mind control protocols put into her mind and spending years wandering in her sleep, she's learned how to fight. She's so caught up in her own fight for her body that she doesn't realize her restraints have been removed, her eyes are opened and she's standing next to Derek until he squeezes her hand.

"Lissa are you ready to work on the Ross Program?" Derek asks her.

"Would you like me to?" Lissa asks him, her mouth moving and speaking the words before she could stop herself.

"I would." Derek tells her.

"Then let's." Lissa answers.

"I told you folks, I'd get her under control." Derek says to the guards. "Do go put this one back into a cage" He says gesturing the Barney and then looks to Lissa with pride in his eyes, "And ready a computer lab for my sister." He says.

If Derek wasn't so distracted by his pride, he would have seen what Barney Ross saw. Lissa's other hand clenching up into a fist. She was fighting the mind control protocols.


	9. Toll's Answers

"Come on Liss, I know you can do this. Just think for me." Derek coaches Lissa as she sits in front of a computer in a cool lab somewhere in the base they are being held in. At least an hour has passed since she was injected with the drug and Lissa has found herself struggling between giving in and helping Derek and fighting the drug. The drug makes her mind sluggish and want to respond, but she knows in her heart if the ROSS program gets out it will do so much harm.

"It's blank. Like trying to remember a dream." Lissa says to Derek and it's the truth. After having Church do his CIA mumbo jumbo in her head, the memory of the final coding for the ROSS program is too blurry to remember clearly. It's like having a name on the tip of your tongue.

"Then start writing and if you feel your mind go blank, you're on the right track." Derek orders and turns away from her as a guard enters the room holding out a phone.

Derek takes it. "Yes?"

Lissa finds herself faking moving her fingers over the keyboard as she listens to the one side of Derek's conversation.

"What? No, we can't do that. She's the key to getting the program. We put her back in and we risk her taking a bullet. She could end up dead. I only agreed to put her in the Battle Ground because I thought it would break her, make her give us the program." Derek argues with the caller, "I've injected her with the serum. We're going to make progress…..I just don't think this is a good idea…..yes I understand." Derek hangs up the phone and hands it off to the guard. He lowers his head, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Something wrong?" Lissa asks.

"Work on the program!" Derek snaps, "We've got thirty minutes to give them what they want or they are putting you back in The Battle Field Liss. Apparently you're little show earlier got people really talking. Much more than they were before. They want to see you fight more and they are willing to pay more. A special fight is going to happen. The only way I can stop it is with the ROSS Program delivered to them."

"I'm trying." Lissa lies. While going into The Battle Field again isn't appealing, she does have one key bit of information now. They need her alive and Derek wants her alive. She thought she and Barney were getting along in there just because of their skills, now she's wondering if there was more at play. Could The Battle Field had been rigged to ensure they survived each round?

It's over an hour after Toll entered the basement that he came back up. His first move is to the kitchen sink where he washes his blood covered hands. His grey t-shirt is stained with blood splatter and his black pants show signs of blood as well. He splashes water up onto his face once his hands are clean. "It's done." He tells Billy and Maggie. He pulls a piece of paper from his pocket and holds it out to Billy. There's blood stained around the corners, but Billy doesn't care. "It's a website where you can buy in to watch the fights and download the old ones. He doesn't know anything about the facilities location other than the fact that it's in the US and somewhere remote."

Billy stares down at the piece of paper.

"Maybe we can see anything in the fight footage that'll tell us location." Maggie offers.

"If Lissa was here, she would be able to track the location." Billy says looking up from the paper.

"We could call Chaos." Maggie suggests.

"Don't." Toll interrupts, "That's the other little nugget I got out of him. Chaos was taken too. All he knew was that Lissa and Chaos were needed and Barney was just for motivation."

"They are after the damn program." Billy says, "She never should have wrote it. We never should it have used it against the North Koreans. Damn it!"

"I'll prep a team to go grab Fake Chaos. We'll see if we can get anything out of him." Maggie tells Billy and Toll. She then leaves the house in search of the others.

Toll puts a dry hand on Billy's shoulder, "If they want the program they need her, they'll keep her alive."

"They won't, not when they realize she can't give them the program." Billy tells Toll, "She had Church take it out of her head. I'm the only one with access to it."

That causes Toll to stiffen up, his muscles going ready for a fight. "Where is it Billy?"

"Somewhere safe." Billy answers, "And don't worry, I won't do anything stupid with it. She'd never forgive me to trading it for anyone, not even her."

"Well if you feel yourself getting jumpy with it, I'll take it for you." Toll tells him, "We should just destroy it."

"Lissa thinks it would do some good if in the right hands. It did help take down the North Koreans." Billy tells him, thinking back to Lissa's dead chip message. He looks back down at the paper in his hand, "Guess the next step is to go watch the fight. You in?"

"I've had enough violence for today." Toll tells him, "I'll send in Gunnar, he'll enjoy it."


	10. Chaos

**Authors Note: Recommended listening while you're reading this chapter is Imagine Dragon's "Battle Cry".**

* * *

Lissa stands near one of the doors that lead out into the Battle Ground. From the metal door she makes out the reflection of medium height blonde woman with sun kissed skin and hair pulled back into a tight ponytail – much like Lissa's own hair. A pair of gold frame aviator sunglasses hang from the v of the form fighting black t-shirt and pants she's projected as wearing along with a pair of mid-calf lace up boots. Clearly Derek's bosses are going for a no-nonsense look. Lissa has a small grin form on her face at the thought, they should have just let her go in there as herself.

Derek approaches and he's holding two handguns in his hands, a guard walking beside him carries a shot gun and a round of ammo. "Lissa." He says and she feels herself automatically turning to face him. "Listen to me. You need to put on a good show, keep them happy." He warns her, "I'll do whatever I can to help you while you're in there. But it's on you. So if in there it comes down to you staying alive and someone dying, you choose you. You stay alive. You hear me?" He asks her.

"I hear you." Lissa confirms to him. She hates that her mind has accepted the only option as kill. She reaches out taking the hand guns from him, checking the clips to make sure they are loaded. As much as she wants to cock the gun and fire at Derek, the mind control protocol is too strong for that. He'd never trust her with a loaded gun around him unless he knew the protocols would protect him. She holsters the first gun in an empty holster at her hip and then repeats the process with the second.

A blare of a siren fills the area and Lissa knows the gates have opened up for the other contestants.

"Two more clips. There's more hidden inside an empty store." Derek tells her and holds them out. Lissa's about to tuck them into a pouch at her hip when she feels a slight bump on the bottom of it, just like an earbud. She spots "Mr. J" hastily carved into the metal. Lincoln is trying to get in touch with her. Lissa pockets it before Derek can notice it.

"Stay alive." Derek commands her.

Lissa takes the shot gun from the guard and swings it back over her shoulder. She pulls on the sunglasses and steps closer to her door. A second siren sounds and her door opens.

The scene today is still the construction site and out of habit she heads for an elevated platform trying to find her way to the highest point. Part of her brain is warning her to stay alert for enemies to kill but the other half wants to find Barney. Lissa finds her hands shaking as she fights the urge to kill to in order to find Barney. She can't help but think her strong emotional attachment to Barney is stronger than the protocols. She's finding weaknesses in them.

A shot rings out from the distance and she dodges to the ground, rolling to cover behind a tipped over wheelbarrow filled with bricks. A few more shots ring out and automatically she starts shooting out in the distance of the shooter trying to take them down. With one clip empty she reaches for a new one, remember the clip from Lincoln. She pulls the small bump on the bottom free and finds that it is an earbud. She shoves it in her ear.

"Lissa?" Lincoln's voice comes through the other end. "Listen I don't have much time. That clip contains knockout rounds. They will pierce skin and look real, so shoot somewhere that won't do major damage. Shoot my brother. He'll look dead and I'll get access to his body, wake him up and help us escape." Lincoln tells her.

"Sounds good and all but they have me drugged." Lissa says softly, not wanting it to be overheard, "I don't know if I can fight it."

"You have to." Lincoln tells her, "Shit. Someone is coming, I have to go." The line goes dead.

Suddenly the shooting stops and Lissa looks up from the wheel barrow cautiously. That's when she realizes it was a distraction. She's standing on a first floor of a building with nothing but the wheelbarrow she is hiding behind. Walls aren't there which allows her to see multiple contestants in the Battle Ground standing there with crude weapons.

"That's the one." One of them says and looks towards a projection on building. On it is an image of the women she's projected to be with a promise of free release from the Battle Ground to whoever kills her. A targets been put on her head to ensure Derek's bosses get a good show.

Derek's orders to stay alive flash before her mind and she finds herself getting to her feet cocking the shot gun. She takes a breath and begins firing. The other contestants start to run at the platform she's on, trying to get ahead of her. When the shot gun goes empty she drops it and changes to the hand guns.

She's so lost in following orders and in the blood lust that it takes her a moment to realize someone is saying her names. It's Chaos. He's standing on the platform, disguised as a teenage boy with dreadlocks, but she knows its him based on his composure. He's holding a hand gun out at her with shakey hands. "Liss." He says.

"Don't." Lissa says turning the gun on him. Derek's orders to stay alive even if it means killing someone else flash into her mind. She feels her hands begin to shake as she fights the protocols. If she fails, Chaos will die.

"I found him, he was badly wounded." Chaos tells her, "I don't think he will make it."

One gun drops from her shaking hands. Without Lincoln's brother their chance of escape is poor, especially with her under Derek's controls. So she does the only thing she can do, she swaps out her empty clip in her remaining gun with a new one and fires a shot at Chaos with her hands shaking the whole time. Chaos hits the ground and doesn't move.

With that a siren blares, signaling the The Battle Field has ended. This scares her for she hasn't seen Barney anywhere and Chaos didn't mention him. Was he in the Battle Ground?


	11. Blood

_**Authors Note: My apologies for the delay in updating. I hope two chapters tonight make it up to you all!**_

* * *

"Doc, you need to figure out what's making her so shakey." Derek orders as he holds onto Lissa's upper right arm. He's brought her straight from the Battle Ground to Lincoln's medical lab.

Lincoln looks up from a gurney she's at. Her face is pale and there's blood splattered all on her pale blue scrubs.

Lissa takes in the sight of gore around the medical lab and knows it's from her. Wounded Battle Ground fighters are pulled out by the guards, as they become too injured to fight, to see if they could be patched up and fight another day. There's very few survivors from her little show. Her stomach clenches and she feels ill. But she forces the thoughts away, she can't let Derek know she's fighting the protocols.

"I'll be back soon. Stay with Lincoln." Derek orders her, "Do whatever she tells you."

Lincoln leads Lissa to a spare gurney and as soon as the door shuts leaving them alone, Lincoln hurries to grab supplies. "We don't have much time." Lincoln tells her.

"Why couldn't you save them?" Lissa asks. There's only two people unconscious and restrained to beds the other twelve beds have sheets over them.

"I had sabotaged the blood supply so we would be forced to get a delivery." Lincoln tells her, "I didn't have enough blood, which they needed. And what I had I used on my brother."

Lissa looks to the two alive contestants, but neither look anything like Lincoln.

"He didn't make it." Lincoln says, her voice shaking. "But we can't focus on that. We need to transfuse you. Derek's been injecting you with a serum to make the mind control protocols more effective. We take that out and you can fight them 100%." Lincoln says and then slides a needle into a vein in Lissa's arm.

"But you don't have blood." Lissa says confused.

"That's why we're using mine." Lincoln tells her and holds up the end of the tube connected to Lissa's arm, on it is a needle which she slides into her neck with ease. Blood flows from it right away and into Lissa's arm. "Buddy transfer. I'll give you as much as my blood as you can. It will dilute your blood and make the serum far less effective."

"But what about you?" Lissa asks panicked. After seeing firsthand the death and destruction she's capable of, she doesn't want to risk Lincoln being another body on a gurney.

Lincoln gives her a small smile, "I can handle it." The smile fades as she looks over to a gurney, "I've gone through worse."

Two minutes tick by in silence and then Lincoln pulls the needles from both of them. She's pale now and looks tired, but she stays on her feet.

"How are you feeling?" Lincoln asks her.

That's when Lissa realizes the ever present hum of the mind control protocols in her mind is nearly silenced. It's faintly there but she isn't struggling to fight it. "Better."

"Good. I'm going to need you at your best if we're going to leave here." Lincoln tells her and looks down at her watch, "The blood transport is due to arrive in exactly seven minutes. We'll sneak up on the driver, steal the vehicle and get the hell out of here."

"Barney." Lissa says, "I can't leave Barney."

"I tried to get him here, but he wasn't in the Battle Field. He's still in a cell. We can't get to the plane and get him Lissa." Lincoln says sadly.

Lissa knows she should leave rather than risk becoming Derek's puppet again, but she can't leave Barney. Even if he'll be pissed at her for staying she can't do it. "Chaos? Did he get brought in?" Lissa asks Lincoln, now aware of her fallen friend.

"He didn't make it." Lincoln says, "I'm sorry."

"He did, I shot him with the bullet met for your brother." Lissa tells her and then starts to the sheet covered gurneys, "Which one is he? He should be waking soon."

"Third down on the right." Lincoln tells her and then jumps into doctor mood, grabbing a syringe and filling it with a clear liquid from a medicine bottle, "It'll help him come back sooner." She explains. When they get to Chaos's nearly lifeless bottle she injects him with the solution and within a minute he gains color to his face and his breathing becomes more noticeable. He awakes not long after with a loud gasp. He looks around the room and then at them, taking it all in.

"I knew you wouldn't kill me." Chaos tells Lissa with a small laugh, "Though next time don't shoot me in my good arm." He whines at her as Lincoln works to bandage it, "Wait I'm not a zombie am I? Right Doc?"

Lincoln lets out a laugh, "Obnoxious? Yes. Zombie. No." She answers.

"The two of you get out of here, hijack the blood transport." Lissa tells them, "Once you get acess to any means of communication reach out to Billy. Tell him I need a New York. He'll know to come."

"You have to come with us." Chaos protests, "You're the badass one."

Lissa grabs one of Chaos's hands and gives it a squeeze, "You're pretty badass yourself. You can do this, you need to do it."

Lincoln helps Chaos to his feet and she grabs a backpack from a nearby table. "We'll get help here as fast as we can, I promise you that." She tells Lissa.

"One more thing." Lissa tells her, "Derek will want to know where you two went. You're going to have to make this look good." She grabs a metal bed pan, which she can only hope is clean, from a nearby table and holds it out to Lincoln.

Lincoln takes ahold of it and with ease raises it up and hits Lissa in the head.

Lissa hits the floor and just before all goes black, she sees Lincoln and Chaos rushing down the hallway towards wherever the blood transport is. A small smile forms on her face, "Screw you Derek." And then it goes dark.


	12. The Sniper

Lissa comes to an unknown amount of time later. When she does, she finds herself strapped down to a gurney. Above her head is a strange metal device which reminds her of an MRI. "What the hell?" She mumbles out.

Derek comes into view, "I'm sorry it has to be this way." He tells her and there is remorse in his eyes. "We're running out of time and my bosses they want answers now. We have to get them this way. This little device is something the CIA is working on to restore memories of those who forgot them due to tragic events. We're hoping it will work on you….with minimal side effects." He explains.

"Derek you can't just let them turn me into some lab mouse!" Lissa pleads. She becomes aware that she is not in Lincoln's lab but instead more of a command center where people ae rushing about destroying some files and boxing others up.

"I did everything I could but they wouldn't change their minds. But that damn doctor got out and warned them. Now it's too late for us to go about the nice way of getting answers." Derek says, "Just stay strong, you can handle this."

Lissa can't help but let a smile form on her face. Lincoln and Chaos got out, help is coming. But when? Will it be before the device is turned on? Before they leave The Battle Grounds?

Gun fire rings out in the not too far distance and normally it wouldn't phase her – it is The Battle Ground. But she makes out the ping sound that follows a couple of shots. It's very distinct ping from a custom sniper rifle belonging to a certain sniper.

Derek catches the grin and angry forms across his face, "You're not under the protocols!" He shouts, "You helped arrange this!"

"You're not the first person to get into my head Derek." Lissa tells him, "When I get out of here, and you are dead, I will make sure you are the last. But yes, I helped the dear doctor and Chaos get out and unleash the wrath of The Expendables on you. Enjoy your last few breaths, they are coming for you."

Derek shakes his head, "Too bad you won't live to see it." He tells her and then hits a button on the top of the machine.

A blinding white light shines down in her eyes and then fades away, in its' wake however comes pain far worse than any blow to head or headache. It consumes her to the point she's only half aware the gurney is moving.

"I'll got ahead to the helicopter. Get her here." Derek orders a guard.

Due to the change in light, Lissa knows she's outside. Her brain is throbbing as the machine tries to restore the memories of the ROSS Program, the very ones Church took out of her head. A scream escapes her lips and then all of a sudden the pain is gone. She's panting on the gurney and is trying to gather her bearings when she hears two quick pings. The restraints on one of her arms go slack and she pulls that hand down to her line of sight to see the restraint has been shot, ripping the fabric free of the gurney. She quickly reaches up and undoes her other hand then goes for her legs. She looks up and out in the distance trying to find Billy. Up on the tallest building she sees the flash of a riffle muzzle, he's up there. She feels relief wash over her and she's up to where she saw the muffle flash, giving a smile.

The hum of an engine breaks her from her daze and not too far away she sees Gunnar and Caesar speeding around The Battle Grounds in a lime green dune buggie. Cesar is holding onto the flip handle with his large gun in his hands, firing out at the guards. Just like the riffle muzzle flash it's a sight for sore eyes.

Lissa's about to call out to them for help when she sees a black hawk helicopter fly overhead. She's reminded of the fact that Derek is going to leave. It's something she can't allow to happen. She jumps down from the gurney, onto shaky legs. On the ground is the bodies of the two guards who were escorting her to the helicopter. Both are now head, bullet wounds to the head curtsey of Billy. She yanks both of their hand guns free from their holsters and takes off after the helicopter. She wishes she could tell Billy what she's doing, but for now she can only hope her sniper follows her lead.


	13. Derek & Lissa

She makes it less than a football field length from the helicopter when she spots Derek. He's slumped on the ground against a boulder. His white dress shirt is stained with blood from a bullet wound to the upper chest and to his stomach. Conflicted emotions rush though her as she looks at him, hate that she didn't get to be the one to fire the trigger and remorse for he was her foster brother, her family before all of this. She makes her way to him and just as her shadows falls over him he pulls a pistol on her.

Lissa quickly kicks it from his hands, "Fuck you." She tells him and makes sure the gun lands out of his reach, "Did you really think you could do this and get away with it?" She asks him gesturing to her and then to the Battle Grounds. "You had to know they would come for Barney and I. You had to know you'd be signing your own death certificate. Or else you are flat out stupid and well the Derek Hollis I knew wasn't' stupid."

"They came for you." Derek tells her and then looks up at her, "They came for you when Sedov took you, they rescued you. Then you joined them and fought with them. When Sedov came for me, it wasn't the good guys you came for me Liss." He explains, "You could have just as easily been the person dying up against this rock if different people saved you. I did what whatever I had to in order to survive, even if it meant coming for you."

Lissa feels tears forming in her eyes, she knows there is some truth to his words, "You could have told me you were alive. I could have gotten you out….."

"I know." Derek says sadly, "I know." He repeats, "I just didn't want the eager eyed little girl I showed how to hack have to come and save me. I'm supposed to the savior, I'm the older brother."

"The stubborn older brother." Lissa clarifies as she drops to her knees in front of him, "It's what I always admired about you, loved about you."

A small smile forms on Derek's lips and then his breathing goes shallower. "I don't have much longer, Lissy, I can't feel my legs and I'm so cold."

Lissa chokes back a sob and shakes her head, "No." She protests and puts her hands on the bullet wounds, trying to stop the bleeding, "Just hang in there, and let me get you out. I'll do it, just let me."

"It's too late for me. So let me do something for you, one last good deed to redeem myself." Derek says softly, "They chipped Billy with a dead chip. Once they realize they can't use you, they'll kill him. Save him, forget about me."

Lissa feels her heart skip a beat and she looks to Derek, "Where is the chip?" She asks him, "How do I shut it down?" But Derek's eyes are closed. She grabs ahold of his shoulder and shakes him. He lets out one last loud breath and then goes still. "Derek! No I need to know!" She cries out. Lissa finds herself hyperventilating as tears roll down her cheeks. She's crying for Derek, crying for the fact that she couldn't help him and crying out of the fear of losing Billy. The thought of him sobers her up emotionally, she has to find that chip. She stumbles to her feet and looks around trying to spot him.

A rusted and badly damaged school bus screeches down the field, flying by the now landed helicopter. It's heading right towards her.

Lissa readies her stolen handguns, taking a defensive stance near Derek's body.

The driver of the bus starts beeping the horn in a pattern. While her Morse code is rusty, she knows enough to know the driver is a friend. The bus comes to a fast stop right near her.

"Hacker Express! All aboard!" Chaos shouts at her as he throws the door open, "Lincoln and I came back with The Expendables. She took over the lab, she's patching up the good guys as they need it. Come on, let's get to the others."

"We have to get to Billy." Lissa tells him as she climbs onto the bus "They put a dead chip in him.


	14. Dead Chip

"One SOS for Billy Timmons coming up." Chaos says and shuts the door to the bus. He guns the engine toward The Battle Ground while beeping out a pattern.

As they approach the cluster of buildings a dune buggie with Lee, Barney and Toll Road pulls up along side them.

"School bus really?" Lee shouts to Chaos, after Chaos has pulled the bus doors open.

"Dune buggie really?" Chaos mimics, "I'm doing the best I can."

"We need to get to Billy." Lissa shouts, "He has a dead chip in him."

"He's up ahead." Barney shouts and then stands up in the moving dune buggie. He times it right and jumps onboard the bus. "We'll get to him." He assures her, "Lee, we might need you to cut it out. No one is better with a knife than you."

"Dead chips have a range on them. You get far enough away from here, it won't work." Toll shouts as he begins to move from the passenger seat to the driver seat as Lee climbs onboard the bus. "Go fast. I'll cover your six." He reduces speed and falls behind the bus.

Chaos looks to Lee, "I might be able to hack into the signal for the chip. Take the wheel." And just as quickly as Lee and Toll switched seats in the dune buggie, Chaos and Lee do it with the bus. Chaos rushes a few seats past Lissa where he drops down pulling a laptop out of a bag.

Barney looks to Lissa, "You okay?" He asks taking note of the blood on her hands and her swollen eyes from crying.

"Derek's dead." Lissa tells him.

"I'm sorry."

"So am I." Lissa then shakes her head trying to force the thoughts of her mind, "We need to save Billy." Her gaze goes out the windshield and out of the cloud of dirt from blowing wind she spots Billy. He's standing there in full gear with his sniper rifle slung over his shoulder. "Chaos get into that signal!" She shouts.

Lee just slows the bus as they approach Billy nad opens the doors, "Get on." He orders.

Billy jumps into the bus and Lissa finds herself grabbing him. Relief floods through her as his arms wrap around her. "I'm here, its okay." He tells her, "I came as fast as I could. Once I heard Lincoln and Chaos mention New York I knew it was real. Though this time, instead of you saving my parents' house from foreclosure, like the last time in New York, I figured I'd save you."

"There's a dead chip in you." Lissa cries out. "We have to find it. If Chaos cant' shut it down and Lee can't get us far enough away, you're going to die."

Billy sees the fear in her eyes and right away hands his rifle off to Barney and pulls the bullet proof vest he's wearing over his head, dropping it on a bus seat.

"Chaos." Lissa shouts as she grabs ahold of the collar of Billy's long sleeve thermal shirt. She yanks down as hard as she can and the material rips. Billy tries to help her get the shirt off of him, but mostly his hands get in the way. Once it's free from him she throws it out open of the open windows.

"Still tracking." Chaos tells as he looks up from the laptop perched in his lap. One hand is typing furiously on the keys while the other is braced against the seat in front of him. "I'm trying to shut it down."

"Try harder." Lissa screams at him and grabs a hold of Billy's belt, yanking it free, it goes out the window with the shirt.

"Lissa." Billy says trying to calm her down. But it's no use, this is life or death. If he was in her shoes he'd be doing the same thing.

Lissa's hands work on the button of the pants Billy is wearing. If her mind wasn't on the single track mission of saving Billy's life she might feel embarrassed or at the very least awkward striping Billy down in front of Barney, but it doesn't cross her mind now. Lissa lets out a cry that is a mixture of frustration and distress, "We'll find it." She says, "We have to."

Barney steps in and offers a hand to Billy as Lee swerves the bus yet again.

Billy takes Barney's hand and works with Lissa to get his pants off and they go out the window too. Now he's left in just socks and boxers. He's not letting the desperation show, but he doesn't think there is a way to stop this. He hasn't had any unexplained cuts or aches, which means the chip isn't in the surface of his skin. It has to be somewhere deep inside him, somewhere only a surgeon in an OR could reach. Which is a place he doesn't have time to get to.

"Still tracking." Chaos says, "It keeps rewriting, I don't think I can shut it down."

"Lee?" Barney shouts.

"Still too far out. It's not like this is a race track, there's no clear path." Lee shouts from the front of the bus.

"Check between his fingers." Lissa demands Barney as she starts patting down Billy's chest, looking for any bump, cut or red spot. Her hands shake as they move. Tears are clouding her eyes and she's breathing quickly. This can't be the end, she can't let it be.

Billy closes his eyes and tilts his head towards the ceiling of the bus. He takes in a deep breath and holds it for a few seconds. He then looks to Barney and shakes his head. It's one gesture that says it all. They can't stop this. It's clear at the rate Lissa's emotionally unrevealing, she can't see this. She can't watch him die. "Lissa." Billy says softly.

She doesn't hear it and her hands move down to his thighs, in search for the chip. She must see out of the corner of her eye that Barney hasn't move and she looks at him, "Do something!" She shouts.

"Lissa." Bill says softly and reaches down, pulling her up to her feet, "I love you. I love you more than anything. You are the best thing that's ever –"

"Don't." Lissa says and the tears fall from her eyes, "Don't you dare say goodbye to me. It's not over." She looks over to Chaos with desperation written on her face, "Tell me you've stopped it."

"I am so sorry." Chaos says looking up from the laptop, "The program is just too good. Derek wrote it too well."

Lissa flinches at a noise she hears. It sounds like a wounded animal crying out in pain. It takes her brain a few seconds to realize it's her making the noise.

Billy wraps his arms around her, "I'm not going to let you watch me die, Liss." He tells her, "I love you too much for that. When you think of me, I want you to think of me like this. Alive, with you in my arms and a smile on my face. We've speed our way down to the road to hell and back so many times now and this time, I'm not finishing the ride. Instead this is my stop. But know I'll always be looking out for you. When you hear your favorite song on the radio, it's me. When one of those perfect warm days comes in the fall, it's me. When a weapon that should jam doesn't, it's me. I'll always be right next to you." He promises and kisses the top of her head.

Billy releases her from his arms and Barney steps from the side, taking Lissa into his. It's less to comfort her and more to keep her from chasing after Billy.

Lissa stands there shaking and sobbing. The overwhelming dread has left her frozen in place. She can't speak, can't move and even breathing is hard. All she can do is cry.


	15. Wide Smile

Billy gets to the front of the bus and gives a small smile to Lee, "Stop the bus." He tells him. Billy then turns looking to Lissa. "I'll love you forever Lissa Hollis." He promises. He flashes her a grin. The same wide tooth smile he gave her when she bought him the pair of expensive sunglasses he liked back when she first was rescued by The Expendables.

It's in that moment that through the dread a new feeling comes through. Hope. "Let me go." Lissa says to Barney and fights against his grip. "Let me go!" Lee has stopped the bus now and goes to open the door, she's running out of time. Lissa knows she can't break free of Barney's grip, not unless she fights dirty. She swings her elbow back and catches him right in the stomach where he was injured earlier. Barney's flinch to project his injured side releases his grip enough and she's able to break free.

"Stop." Lissa screams to Lissa as he steps down the stairs of the bus and towards the open door. She rushes towards the front, yanking a knife free from the holster at Lee's hip. "It's in your mouth." She tells Billy.

It's clear from all the research Derek and his employers did that they know every medical thing about them. Including the fact that Billy grinds and clenches his teeth in his sleep, a side effect of his time overseas. So he's no stranger to teeth pain, which is why he wouldn't notice an ache in his teeth like he would a random cut or sore spot on his body.

Billy opens his mouth and Lissa steps forward with the knife in hand. Even in the dim light inside the bus she can spot the out of place white tooth cap. It's too white against the rest of Billy's teeth. Lissa uses the knife to pry it out and it falls to the ground next to Lee's feet.

Lee stretches a booted foot out and stomps on it, "Chaos?" He asks.

There's a moment of anticipation, where they all go silent and hold their breaths. This could be either eleventh hour miracle or it could just be a sucker punch of false hope.

"Hell yes!" Chaos shouts jumping to his feet, causing to the laptop to fall to the ground. "Offline."

Lissa falls forward into Billy's arms, knocking them from the middle and last stair respectively of the bus and to the ground outside. She's crying, laughing and shouting in excitement all at once as she lays on top of him. Billy's doing the same thing as he holds onto her.

Barney watches from the bus and while he's relieved and excited, his heart also sinks. Losing Billy means losing Lissa. No matter how it happens, losing him will destroy her. If her rage for revenge against whoever took Billy from her didn't kill her the depression would.


	16. Billy & Lissa

Lissa wakes up with her head feeling heavy and her mouth dry. She's in a comfortable bed with a soft comforter over her. She sits up slowly, putting a hand her to sore head. Lying next to her in bed is Billy, who is asleep. She looks around the room, it's similar to their house in Maine but not exact. Little things are missing, little things are different. "Billy." She says softly. She's now trying to remember how they ended up here.

Billy stirs and wakes up slowly, letting out a small groan, which can only mean he's feeling the same way. "Liss?" He asks sitting up in bed, "Why do I feel like I was drugged?" He then looks around the room, "Why is this our house but not our house?"

Lissa's eyes go to a folded piece of paper on the night stand, propped up by two bottles of water with a couple aspirin next to them. Visible on the paper is her name in the all too familiar messy block like handwriting. "I think we were…drugged." She says grabbing one of the bottles of water and hands it to Billy.

Billy cracks it open and takes a long swig before offering it to her.

Lissa trades him a couple of aspirin for the water. She downs a sip and chases it with aspirin. Lissa then reaches out for the paper, holding it out so she and Billy can read it.

_"Dear Lissa,_

_Please forgive the cloak and dagger approach to all of this, it's the only time I'll agree to Church being right about something. I knew you wouldn't agree to this plan willingly so I had to take a page from his playbook. You and Billy are currently in a small town just outside of Seattle, in a safe house I set up for you completely off the grid. It was meant to be an anniversary present, but now it's a retirement present._

_Seeing you on that school bus faced with losing Billy, I knew you didn't belong in this life anymore. I think I've known it for a while now, I just didn't want to admit it to myself. I was enjoying having you in my life. I enjoyed having a daughter I could blow things up with and taking down bad guys together. I was enjoying having a family. But you have a new family now and its clear Billy would do anything for you. The Expendable lifestyle is a dangerous one. We're a lot like the grenades we carry, one day the pin is pulled and we explode destroying everything around us. Its why many of us don't get attached and keep people at a distance._

_You're not a grenade or a weapon Lissa, you're my daughter and the best thing I can do for you is to get you out of this life. To let you and Billy live your happily ever after without worrying if you're safe. You both will always be Expendables, but it's time for you to live your lives._

_Billy Timmons and Alyssa Hollis are dead. The world, including our enemies, will see us all mourn you both. Once Church and I leave you two, we'll be taking the memory of the location from our minds. The memory for it and the whole paper trail will be destroyed. I will know you two are alive out there somewhere, but that's it. As for the others, it's best that they don't know the truth. It protects us all._

_So know that I love you more than anything kiddio. It brings the most joy knowing my legacy won't be The Expendables, it will be you. Stay out of trouble and enjoy your normal life. You both deserve it._

_Dad."_

"I guess we're out." Billy says as he finishes reading.

"I guess we are too." Lissa says and then flips the note to the back, finding nothing but her name written on it, "The only problem is he didn't leave us any instructions on how to live a normal life…" She says looking to Billy with a small laugh.


	17. The Final Chapter

**Authors Note: And so here it is, the final chapter in Billy and Lissa's story. I'd like to thank everyone for all of your kind words along the way. This last chapter is dedicated to all of you! So enjoy and thank you. This is where I see Billy and Lissa's story ending, but who knows they may have to come out of retirement at some point. **

**Seven Months Later**

Barney Ross walks down a busy street in downtown LA, The Expendables had just finished a job overseas and where stopped over in LA for the night. While everyone went off to the bar, Barney found himself wandering the streets. His whole team thinks Billy and Lissa didn't make it off The Battle Grounds field. That as they parted ways to find survivors, back up kill chips went off killing them both. They have all grieved and they are reminded of them on every mission when they hear the clatter of Billy and Lissa's dog tags against the other fallen Expendables. While Barney knows they are alive, he hates not knowing if he made the right decision. Are Billy and Lissa happy? Do they feel trapped in their new life? Do they hate him for making this decision? His inner turmoil is the reason Maggie left and went back to working for Church. She said she couldn't stand to see him so haunted. He hangs his head low and finds himself wishing he hit the bar, a beer sounds very good right now.

A woman falls into step with him, "I'm going to show you a map, pretend to be giving me directions." She tells him and then holds a map out.

Barney looks to her and even under the blonde wig and large sunglasses he knows who the woman is. "Lissa." He breathes out softly.

"Look at the map, you see I'm having difficulties finding where I'm supposed to meet my husband for dinner." She says.

Barney looks to the map she's holding out. Dead center is a black and white photo, an ultrasound photo. It all clicks in his head and he stops walking.

"I think I should be taking a right, right?" Lissa asks him.

"I think right is a good decision." Barney tells her. He sneaks a gaze down to her stomach, finding a small baby bump. "Thank you."

"I should be the one thanking you, for all your help." Lissa says. She glances quickly over her shoulder, checking for anyone watching. "Well I'm running late, I should go."

"I'm proud of you….." Barney tells her, "….you know not many women won't stop and ask for directions."

A navy blue beat up four door car pulls up to the curb right near them. Out of instinct Barney finds himself reaching for the knife in his back pocket. But he catches sight of the driver, a disguised Billy.

"Sweetheart, there you are! I've been looking for you!" Billy calls out the window.

"I'm so glad you found me, though this nice man was helping me." Lissa says gesturing to Barney.

"Well thank you for all of your help, sir." Barney says with a smile.

"Anytime." Barney tells him, "Keep an eye on her, you hear me?"

"Always do." Billy answers.

Lissa reaches out and shakes his hand, "Thank you again." And that's when he feels a piece of paper be pressed into his hand. She departs quickly, getting into the car and Billy drives off without another glance.

"Love you. I'll be in touch again soon. Stay safe, Grandpa." The note reads.

For the first time since he left Lissa in wherever it was that he left her, Barney feels happy. He now knows he made the right decision getting her out of The Expendable lifestyle. His daughter wouldn't have the happy smile on her face and a child on the way if she was still fighting alongside him. While he wishes he could share this with the others, he knows it's for the best they think she and Billy are gone. But maybe now their "loss" will be easier if he appears to be taking it better. Barney turns around and starts heading back to the bar he left the others at.


End file.
